More Homeowners Are Tapping Their Home Equity

Here's How to Be Smart With Home-Equity Loans and Lines of Credit

By

AnnaMaria Andriotis

July 11, 2014 3:47 p.m. ET

Homeowners are treating their castles like cash registers again.

Borrowers took out about 230,200 home-equity lines of credit in the first quarter, up 9% from a year prior, letting them tap up to $23.4 billion, the highest quarterly amount since 2008. The average credit line in March was $100,207, up 4% from a year earlier and the highest since 2008, according to credit-reporting company Equifax.